The first rule of Insomnia Club is do not talk about Insomnia Club. The second rule is whatever you do when you are tossing and turning in the middle of the night, DO NOT go on Facebook and check out the green dots and see who else is on-line. But you will anyway. Third rule, DO NOT start chatting with the green dots, they could be in a different time zone and will not understand your middle of the night psychotic ramblings. If they are in your time zone, unless they are up waiting for the limo to take them to the airport, they are also insomniacs and you should never fraternize with someone who can’t sleep when you can’t sleep. The conversation will be pointless and will create even more anxiety and before you know it, you will be cyber-poking each other to death.
The collective energy in the air these days is so angst-ridden, I’m surprised anyone can sleep through what’s going on. The world has become smaller because we are constantly bombarded with world events and tied to social media like it was an umbilical cord. Not that long ago, we would have watched the news on tv at 6 o’clock, clucked and tsk-ed while we had our cocktails, then turned it off and had dinner with our families and chatted about what happened in our day (ok, not really that idyllic, but that’s how it should happen). Now we are living with a tsunami (and pardon the metaphor) of information during our walking hours. We all know what Charlie Sheen is doing right NOW because if we’re not following him on Twitter, the media is and reports all his rantings. He is the poster child of a modern anxiety disorder. And we all have an opinion and I have just this to say: Wait until he wakes up from his sleepless delusions and has to chew off both his arms when he realizes his “goddesses” are merely garden variety mall skanks. I can hardly wait.
But how do you deal with all the anxiety? I asked around and somebody told me B vitamins. Oh how I laughed. In earnest, I think the best way has been to practise yoga. I go on Bikram yoga binges but on the most part I do Hatha yoga at the gym. Yoga teaches you how to detach which as a concept seems maybe counterintuitive when it comes to honing your self-awareness. But the fine art of detachment is the best way to deal with those pesky thoughts in the middle of the night that keep you ruminating and obsessing about things that don’t really matter. Buddha says that attachment is the root of all suffering so yeah, try to free your thoughts and sleep will come. Eventually. And stop following Charlie Sheen on Twitter (note to self).
art of modern living 